Meet Victoria.
At almost 3 years old, Victoria is a little spark of exuberance who loves to dance and swim.
When Victoria was born, she wasn't responding to sound during a hospital test. An infant screening test performed at KidsAbility and a referral to an audiologist confirmed the diagnosis of profound hearing loss.
Her parents were devastated.
“On the ride home from her appointment, I grieved for our daughter’s unknown future," Tania shares. "I wondered how she would ever manage in a world without sound.”
Within days, Victoria and her family began their journey with KidsAbility and found hope, optimism and confidence.
Working together with the entire family, Victoria's therapist Heather created a plan to make their speech and language goals possible. Her parents, Tania and Keil, were also helped while they navigated her journey to receive cochlear implants surgically placed by the hospital.
Thanks to ongoing therapy at KidsAbility, Victoria is now exploring a life
with sound! From those early days to now, she continues to benefit from speech and language services to meet new goals!
Today, she’s learning the words to describe her toddler world – the colour of a banana, a pig, the sky – along with playing therapy games to identify and fill in the missing words to nursery rhymes.
"She loves her therapy. It's so fun for her that she's unaware that she's learning to improve her words, sounds and rhythm!" Tania explains.
Therapy sessions are an opportunity for her parents to learn new resources and reach milestones, too. They tap out each word on their arm to emphasis the syllables in the words they speak to help her understand and repeat the word
correctly. As you can guess, some of the harder sounds, such as “f”, “th”
and “v", are especially important for Victoria to learn so she can pronounce her name with confidence.
“Thank you to everybody at KidsAbility for letting us be part of that family, and to the generous donors who give to keep services going that Victoria and other children benefit from.”
Right now, Victoria is excited for many things – like her in-person visits with Heather – and for a summer filled with swimming, splash pads, chasing bubbles and exploring her little world everyday with her family!
Your donation helps give children like Victoria early access to life-changing therapy, programs and resources they need for a brighter future.
